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Two more journalists part ways with Cumhuriyet

The legal affairs reporter was hit with a sentence of 2 years and 3 months for “targeting officials involved in the fight against terrorism” after she reported that a lottery to select homebuyers for a coveted project in Istanbul had been rigged in favour of members of the judiciary.

Ünker has also run into legal trouble for her part in reporting on large transactions in overseas tax havens conducted by former Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım’s sons, as revealed in the Paradise Papers data leak.

The pair have followed dozens of other renowned journalists who have parted ways with the newspaper after it announced a new editorial board headed by controversial figures including Alev Coşkun, who was alleged to have sent anonymous denunciations to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan which were used as evidence in trials against Cumhuriyet staff.

Fifteen staff members of the newspaper, including former editor-in-chief Murat Sabuncu, were given long prison sentences